The Cairns Review

Heading to the pool or the beach for summer here are a couple of great Rock books that would be a perfect accompaniment or a fantastic gift for Christmas.

"After forty-six years of being on the road, this is the right time to look back in a way I've never done before: now and then. This is the story of my life in rock and roll -- and how the band that has meant everything to me came to define me. I'm looking forward to sharing it with you."

Mick Fleetwood has been a member of the ever-evolving Fleetwood Mac, one of the world's most successful and adored bands, for over four decades. Here he tells the full and candid story of his life as one of music's greatest drummers and bandleaders, the cofounder of the deeply loved supergroup that bears his name and that of his bandmate and lifelong friend John McVie.

In this intimate portrait of a life lived in music, Fleetwood vividly recalls his upbringing tapping along to every song playing on the radio, his experiences as a musician in '60s London, and the earliest permutation of the band featuring Peter Green.

Play On sheds new light on Fleetwood Mac's raucous history, describing the highs and lows of being in the band that Fleetwood was determined to keep together. Here he reflects on the creation of landmark albums such as Rumours and Tusk, the great loves of his life, and the many incredible and outrageous moments of recording, touring, and living with Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood describes these moments with honesty and immediacy, taking us to the very heart of this multilayered journey that has always been anchored in music.

Through it all, from intense love to plaintive heartaches, from collaborations to confrontations, it's been the drive to play on that has prevailed. Now, then, and always, it's Fleetwood Mac.

The intimate and long-awaited autobiography of a legend

In 1967 in San Francisco, just a few weeks after the Summer of Love, a young Mexican guitarist took the stage at the Fillmore Auditorium and played a blistering solo that announced the arrival of a prodigious musical talent. Two years later -- after he played a historic set at Woodstock -- the world came to know the name Carlos Santana, his sensual and instantly recognizable guitar sound, and the legendary band that blended electric blues, psychedelic rock, Latin rhythms, and modern jazz, and that still bears his name.

Carlos Santana's unforgettable memoir offers a page-turning tale of musical self-determination and inner self-discovery, with personal stories filled with colorful detail and life-affirming lessons. The Universal Tone traces his journey from his earliest days playing the strip bars in Tijuana while barely in his teens and brings to light the establishment of his signature guitar sound; his roles as husband, father, recording legend, and rock guitar star; his indebtedness to musical and spiritual influences -- from John Coltrane and John Lee Hooker to Miles Davis and Harry Belafonte; and his deep, lifelong dedication to a spiritual path that he developed from his Catholic upbringing, Eastern philosophies, and other mystical sources. It includes his recording some of the most popular and influential rock albums of all time, up to and beyond the 1999 sensation Supernatural, which garnered nine Grammy Awards and stands as arguably the most amazing career comeback in popular music history.

It's a profoundly inspiring tale of divine inspiration and musical fearlessness that does not balk at finding the humor in the world of high-flying fame, or at speaking plainly of Santana's personal revelations and the infinite possibility he sees in each person he meets. "Love is the light that is inside of all of us, everyone," he writes. "I salute the light that you are and that is inside your heart."

Think you know how Jim Morrison died? Think you know who wrote all their hits? Think you know why Morrison fled to Paris, never to return? Well now you will with the definitive biography, Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre, of the legendary rock band and their iconic frontman Jim Morrison, written by Mick Wall, one of our most revered music writers and one of the last journalists to interview Ray Manzarek. The Doors have sold over 100 million albums. Inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, they received a lifetime achievement at the 2007 Grammy Awards, and were the first American band to accumulate eight consecutive gold LPs. Yet the story of The Doors ended as badly as did the 1960s: a startling decade the music and story of The Doors both defined and helped vilify. Along with evoking the cultural milieu of Los Angeles, in Love Becomes A Funeral Pyre Mick Wall captures the true spirit of that tarnished age with a brilliantly penetrating and contemporary investigation into the real story of The Doors.

A "Los Angeles Times" Best seller! August 2014 marks 50 years since Bob Dylan released his fourth album, "Another Side of Bob Dylan." Recorded in one night, in the middle of a turbulent year in his life, the music marked a departure from Dylan's socially-conscious folk songs and began his evolution toward other directions. During the years they spent together, few people outside of Dylan's immediate family were closer than Victor Maymudes, who was Dylan's tour manager, personal friend, and travelling companion from the early days in 1960s Greenwich Village through the late 90's. "Another Side of Bob Dylan" recounts landmark events including Dylan's infamous motorcycle crash; meeting the Beatles on their first US tour; his marriage to Sara Lownds, his romances with Suze Rotolo, Joan Baez, and others; fellow travelers Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Wavy Gravy, Dennis Hopper, The Band, The Traveling Wilburys, and more; memorable concerts, and insights on Dylan's songwriting process.On January 26th, 2001, after recording more than 24 hours of taped memories in preparation for writing this book, Victor Maymudes suffered an aneurysm and died. His son Jacob has written the book, using the tapes to shape the story. The result is a vivid, first-hand account of Dylan as an artist, friend, and celebrity, illustrated with never-before-seen photographs, and told by an engaging raconteur who cut his own swathe through the turbulent counterculture.

""Bleddyn Butcher has been taking pictures of me and my cohorts since I first got up on stage back in Australia right through to the shuddering present and some of these images are so familiar to me, so much a part of the fabric of my life, my little history, that much like the songs I have written, these photographs have become the props around which my memories collect. Without them so many of those days would be lost. Soul-stealer and dream-catcher - here he comes then - with his book of rescued moments."" Nick Cave In 1981, dazzled by Nick Cave's extraordinary talent, rock photographer Bleddyn Butcher started taking photos of Cave and his then band, punk darlings The Birthday Party. A long friendship began. With over 100 carefully selected and many never-before-seen photographs, A Little History reflects the evolution of one of today's most original artists, burrowing beneath Cave's smouldering public persona to reveal the irrepressible humour which punctuates his private life. Alongside portraits of band members from The Birthday Party, The Bad Seeds and Grinderman, there are snapshots of backstage encounters with the likes of John Cale, Bob Dylan, Kylie Minogue and Nina Simone, peers Shane MacGowan and Mark E Smith and former girlfriends Anita Lane and Viviane Carneiro. One of rock's few singular personalities, Nick Cave's influence now extends far beyond music into the realms of film and literature. A Little History is the definitive portrait of a crucial artist."